


Summer Camp Blues

by Girlwithgoggles



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4487862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlwithgoggles/pseuds/Girlwithgoggles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil doesn't like summer camp, and he doesn't want to go when his mom signs him up.<br/>But when he gets there and meets a certain brunette, he decides that maybe camps not that bad after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meet and Greet

 

"Cabins are called and bags are set, alright ladies, let's go!"

Phil shook slightly as he grabbed his duffle bag and backpack from the grassy field they had been sitting on and headed off with the rest of the group he had been assigned to. The head camp counsellor, a women with long ginger hair named Mamrie, had just spent a whole hour splitting the campers into their cabin groups.

She had said "These people are going to be like family to you all over the next three weeks so get to know them as much as possible."

Phil's hands were already sweating when his mom had hugged him goodbye in the parking lot and now he could actually feel drops dripping from his hands. He was extremely nervous. He hadn't even wanted to go to this stupid camp, but of course, his mom thought he needed to socialize, so off she had sent him to this hell hole.

It wasn't like there was anything wrong with the camp itself, it was just the people he was having trouble dealing with. Already he had been pushed into the side of a bus parked on the edge of the campgrounds by some black haired, bespectacled kid. Even the head counsellor scared him a bit, she was very intimidating.

Phil was shocked back from his musing when he tripped over something and fell over one of his bags right onto his face. Phil could hear laughter all around him and his face felt hot. He wasn't hurt though, so that was a plus, and he pushed himself up until he was in a sitting position.

"Jesus Christ, are you okay, that was an epic fall!" A voice from above him called and he looked up. The sun was directly behind the persons head but he could make out brown floppy hair, and a hand extended towards him. Phil took it, forgetting for a moment that his hands were like miniature lakes in favour of getting off the dusty ground and getting people to stop staring at him.

"Thank-" But when Phil got a proper look at the face of the boy that had helped him, his words caught in his throat. The boy had big brown eyes that were crinkled in the corners, squinted with a smile. His hair was brown and floppy, he seemed to have the same sort of fringe Phil had, but on the other side. And his small smile seemed to light up his face. Phil thought he might have hit his head a little to hard on the ground.

"You?" The boy had said something and Phil had missed it.

"What?"

"I said, people usually say 'Thank you' not just Thank…" The boys smile grew as he laughed and Phil couldn't help himself from laughing too.

"What's your name?" the boy stuck out his hand for Phil, waiting for him to answer.

"Phil Lester," Phil took the boys hand in his, realizing with great relief that he had stopped sweating all together.

The boy gave Phil's hand a quick shake, "Dan Howell," He didn't let go of Phil's hand, "And you're welcome."

And then he dropped their hands and turned to join their waiting group. Dan Howell was in Phil's group.

The beautiful brunette boy was in Phil's cabin group.

When they got to their cabin, their councillor, Finn, unlocked the screen door and pushed inwards as he entered.

"Alright, this is going to be home sweet home for the next three weeks and for some stupid safety reason, the camp has decided not to let you switch bunk mates… So, choose wisely."

Phil instantly looked towards Dan, but the brunet seemed to have already made a new friend. Figures, the only good thing in this camp so far, and it's gone.

"Hey." a voice from behind Phil made him jump and he turned around. There was a boy standing there. He had brown hair like Dan's, but it was a different shape, shorter and slightly spiked.

"Hey, do you want to be bunk mates?" The boy asked and the non stop staring was starting to freak Phil out a bit.

"Alright," Phil said slowly, "What bunk then?"

Before the strange boy could answer, Dan came up beside them. He was all smiles again and he put an arm around Phil's shoulder in a casual gesture but it still make Phil stand up straighter.

"You guys want the bunks next to ours?" Dan gestured over to where a boy, the same boy Dan had been talking to earlier, was throwing his sleeping bag up into the top bunk. That boy had curly brown hair.

"I call top bunk!" The odd boy shouted and ran for the bunks beside the ones Dan had pointed to. That just left Phil with Dan's arm around his shoulders and he was feeling a tad nervous. Thankfully, Finn called the campers back into the middle of the cabin and Dan leg go of his shoulders.

"So I know you've had time to talk, but we haven't really introduced ourselves properly yet! So, how bout everyone share their name, their first activity of the day, and… Favourite animal. I'll go first!" Finn propped himself up against a bunk and gave an exaggerated wave, " Hi my names Finn, I'll be doing archery after lunch and my favourite animals are elephants."

It went around the circle like that, there were around twelve people in their cabin and after about five kids went, it was Phil's weird bunk mates turn. They learned his name was Chris, he liked dogs, and that he has soccer. Then Dan's bunk mate, who would only introduce himself as Pj, and that he had arts and crafts and that he liked monsters.

Next was Phil and he felt that same nervousness again. "Hey, I'm Phil… I'm doing music and my favourite animal is a lion." A couple people murmured greetings but Phil wasn't really paying attention because Dan was beaming at him and that smile was enough to make Phil sit down on one of the bunks. Then it was Dan's turn.

'Hello, I'm Dan, I've got music first, and my favourite animal is a llama!" Then he sat down beside Phil. Phil felt himself smiling and he turned to Dan.

"Hey, we have the same first activity!"

Dan laughed, "Yeah, I got that." Phil went red and faced the front.

"Hey, sorry, what instrument do you play?" Dan poked Phil in the side and he turned.

"I sing, kind of… My mom thought it would be good for me to join the choir at my school and she signed me up for the class so I could practice… What about you?"

Dan laughed, "I play piano, I guess…"

"Cool! Can I hear you play?"

"Um… Maybe, I guess…" Dan frowned and looked back to the circle quickly, red colouring his cheeks, and Phil realized he must have said something wrong. Oh god he was such a looser, what had he said now! Dan stopped talking to him for the rest of the introductions.

The initial awkwardness of the meet and greet wore off after Finn let them talk amongst themselves for a while, but Dan had disappeared with Pj and now Phil was sitting on his bunk, staring at his hands.

He felt nervous butterflies fluttering in his chest as Finn called for the campers to line up and go to first activities. He would have to interact with more then three people for longer than half an hour. And to top it all off Dan didn't seem to want to talk to him, let alone look at him. It was just like him to make the one good thing seem awkward.


	2. Lovely Song

The music room was small and dull. There were a couple cut out pictures of cartoon trumpets and drums with faces and finger position sheets tacked to the grey walls.

There were boxes of sticks and piles of drums and in the right corner closest to the door was a dirty old piano. Phil got a good look around before the teacher, Jon, told them all to sit down on the choir chairs that sat around the room. Phil sat down at the back, farthest from the rest of the group and sunk down in his chair, maybe if he hid every class, he wouldn't have to do anything.

"Alright everyone! I wanna here what you guys got, so on the count of three everyone is gonna sing their names as loud and dramatically as they can, got it?!" Jon was much to enthusiastic.

To be far, most kids in the group didn't look too happy about this either, so when Phil kept quiet, he didn't feel too bad. Phil could almost see Jon's hopes for having an easy class disappear as the last sullen name had drowned down.

"Good… That was… Good…" Jon looked around behind him on the table and the piano bench, as if looking for a way out, before grabbing a book of sheet music off the top of the piano and handing out sheets to everyone.

One was past back to Phil and he read the title, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," before folding it and putting it on the seat beside him. It was a good song, but no way was he gonna sing in front of all these people.

"Alrighty, and now we just need a talented individual who can play the piano to come up and accompany us!" Phil could actually see the pianists in the group by how they all, as one, shrunk back into their seats.

Jon laughed nervously and looked at a piece of paper on a dirty looking clip bored, "Dan… Dan Howell? It says you signed up for the advanced piano program… Amazing! How about you come down here and we can see what you've got?"

Phil perked up and looked down to where Dan was sitting in front of him, trying his best to disappear into the blue, plastic chair he was sitting in. Finally after much poking and prodding from Jon and the other kids in the group, Dan got up slowly and made his way behind the piano and sat on the bench.

"Yay!" Jon looked far from happy as he clapped and turned back to the group, "Alright everyone, from the top then!?"

It was awkward and slow going to start off, because of a few people starting too early and too late but they managed to sing somewhat together by the second line of the song which seemed to put a real smile on Jon's face.

Phil had only been half listening by then because he was too focused on watching Dan play. His fingers moved slowly and calculatedly over the keys as he shaped the tune out into the air. The other kids probably didn't even notice when Dan closed him eyes.

He was quite beautiful when he played and Phil could feel the corners of his mouth tugging up as he watched Dan sway as he played. Phil absentmindedly started humming along to the tune, despite his earlier vow to not participate.

Once the last note had been played, Dan stood, closed the piano top, and walked swiftly back to his seat. Jon nodded and clapped, although no one joined him; except for phil, albeit quietly.

"You're really good!" Phil whispered, leaning over to speak close to Dan's ear as not to get caught. Dan's whole body jumped before slumping further down into his chair mumbling a quick, "Thanks…" Phil sat back feeling embarrassed, he wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter, cuz I'm splitting up according to the art I did...


	3. Chicken Nuggets and Chubby Bunny

After first and second period's were finally done, Finn collected them all up back into their cabin group, and took them all to the Mess Hall to have an early dinner because apparently as soon as the lights went down, the whole camp always played a large game of man hunt. Great. Phil was terrible at games like those. He usually let himself get tagged so he could sit out.

When their group got the the Mess Hall, Finn split away to sit at the councillors table and the campers were told to line up for some sort of food and then find a table to sit at. Phil got into line close to the front, but soon found himself letting large groups of kids in front of him. He always panicked when he was faced with being the leader in any circumstance.

Phil was about to step out of the way for a small group of girls when a hand grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward. Phil looked to his right to the person dragging him and saw Dan with a determine set to his face.

"C'mon, if you let the whole camp go first there won't be any good stuff left!" Dan finally looked at him and there was an apology for ignoring Phil. Phil smiled tentatively back and nodded. He started walking with Dan; Dan kept his hand fixed around Phil's wrist.

Once they were happily supplied with chicken nuggets, corn and juice, they sat down at a table on the far side of the hall, right in the corner and away from the majority of the camp. A couple more campers joined them after a while. Pj, Chris, and two girls from the ladies camp who introduced themselves as Cat and Louise joined Phil and Dan at the table and started up conversations about nothing and everything.

After about twenty minutes at the table, Phil felt comfortable with his new found group. Phil sat next to Dan on one side of the table with Cat and Louise on the opposite side. Chris was sitting at the head of the table beside Phil and Pj was at the bottom of the table beside Dan. Phil could usually tell went people got along and it seemed like this group was a good fit. Cat and Louise were giggly, but nice. Pj ended up being much weirder then Chris was and Chris just seemed to like to stare a lot.

Phil and Chris were having a chubby bunny contest with the groups extra chicken nuggets, when the councillors stood from their table with loud shrieks and whoops. Phil choked on one the nuggets and Dan slammed his back until he coughed them up.

"What the bloody hell are they doing?!" Dan asked the table at large as the councillors jumped from their seats and ran to the doors, most of the kids instantly took up the cheers and followed the councillors out, but a lot of the kids just looked around confusedly until a friend grabbed them and pull them along.

Louise was the only kid in their group to have come here in previous years and she snickered as she stood up.

"It's the Mega Man Hunt game they hold every year at the start of camp, they never explain until we're all out on the hill! C'mon!" And then she was off, running with another group of girls from her cabin. The rest of the group looked at each other and only Pj and Cat seemed to be smiling. The rest, including Phil, had worried expressions on their faces. Phil stood with Dan and jogged after him as they joined the flood of kids leaving the hall. Here they go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one… Again sorry…


	4. Taking a Dip

Dan pulled him into a bush. Phil wouldn't in a million years think that he would ever get this far in man hunt, but here he was, hiding in a bush with a boy he met less than 24 hours ago, some of the last players on the field.

Louise had gotten out right away, although maybe that had been a smart idea because Phil was pretty sure he had one hundred mosquito bites by now and Cat had run like crazy but she got grabbed by a pair of older campers. After the girls got out, Pj, Dan and Phil were by themselves; since Chris disappeared into the bushes right away.

Pj had gone on a kamikaze mission. He had told Dan and Phil to run and then lead a huge group of kids away from where they had been hiding; that was five minutes ago. Phil was tired, sweaty and out of breath, but he was actually having fun.

"Alright," Dan whispered and turned in his crouch to sit beside Phil, "No ones out there as far as I can see. Let's take a break."

Phil relaxed immediately and leaned into the tree that was growing in the circle of bushes.

Phil leaned against the tree beside Dan and let out a quite sigh. "This is actually really fun! I thought it would be horrible, I'm usually rubbish at these games."

"Me too," Dan huffed quietly as he glanced behind them over the forest, "I can't believe we haven't been caught yet!"

The land around their camp was comprised of dense forests with a river running around the very edge. They had been told not to go past the river and not to climb into any caves they might find, and now Phil is wondering what might be in them.

Dan had almost fallen into one when they were running earlier; the sun had still been up then, but now it was far past setting. The air was cool and Phil could actually see stars from where he was sitting, he nudged Dan.

"What?"

"Look up!" Phil whispered and Dan tilted his head until he was looking at the branches of the tree above.

"I can't see anything… What is it?" Dan squinted and Phil realized that the tree was too thick where Dan was sitting.

"Here," And with a sudden burst of bravery, Phil pulled Dan into his side and Dan let out a quiet gasp.

Phil's face was burning as Dan shifted beside him so that he was more comfortable, but that also meant he was more or less curled up against Phil's side. Phil shifted so that Dan could have more room to see the sky above them. It was a nice moment and Phil let out a small sigh as he relaxed into the situation. That's when they heard the snap of a branch. They both froze and tensed where they sat.

Very slowly Dan moved so he was crouched on his knees and peered over the bushes. He snapped his head back down so fast Phil was concerned for his neck. Any thoughts at all were gone from Phil's mind as Dan moved his head right beside Phil's ear; a shiver ran up Phil's spine.

"There are three boys on the other side of the trees in front of us. If were quiet we could probably sneak out the back."

Phil nodded minutely as Dan moved back and started shuffling around the tree and through the bushes. Phil followed after a second and they made their escape. Unfortunately, Phil was never the most coordinated and he fell forward into Dan who fell right into a tree with a yelp.

The yells of the boys from behind them strengthened there resolve to run for it and they full out sprinted forward blindly. Dan dodged a tree a head of them and Phil followed only to smack right into Dan as he stopped and the both of them toppled into the river in front of them. They had been so preoccupied with running, that they hadn't noticed they had boxed themselves in by sitting by the river.

The boys laughs echoed through the woods as Dan and Phil stood, dripping from the water. One of the boys in the pack was Finn and he stepped forward with a large smile on his face.

"Well mates, I'm sorry to say, but I think you're out!" Dan rolled his eyes and squished out of the river, Phil followed.

When they got back to the actual camp grounds and walking into the common room, the whole room went silent and then burst into laughter. Pj, Louise and Cat ran over, laughing harder then anyone in the room. Phil could feel his face burning and he ducked his head a bit. Dan stepped forward a bit and it almost seemed like he was shielding Phil, which he appreciated.

"I saved you guys, and this is what you do with my sacrifice!" Pj exclaimed, but he wasn't mad.

"There is always the kids who fall in the river when we play this game, should have guessed it would be you two this year," Louise chuckled.

"Go get dry you two," Cat finished and pushed Dan and Phil towards the doors. They didn't need telling twice as they hurried down the corridor to the dorms doors.


	5. Pickles

As soon as they had taken showers and were dressed in dry clothes, they sat on Dan's bed and talked. They hadn't felt like walking back to the common room so they just sat in the cabin, a single lamp lighting the cabin's interior, casting long shadows from the bunks onto the walls and ceiling.

It was quiet and relaxed, they talked about their favourite video games, movies, comics and what their crazy teachers did. Dan had his back against the head bored, legs straight out in front of him and Phil was lying on his back, legs handing over one side of the bed and head resting on Dan's legs. It was so relaxing and quiet, after the day he had had, that when Phil felt his eyes started to slip closed around a conversation about the Mess Hall food, he didn't attempt to keep them from shutting.

The leg under his head bounced a bit and Phil was shaken from the sleep like state he must have slipped into. Phil turned his head to look up at Dan, and Dan was looking almost- fondly, down at him.

"What, sorry," Phil apologized and sat up, crossing his legs and sitting against the back bored across from Dan, attempting to concentrate his tired mind on Dan's face, "What did you say?"

Dan shook his head, "I asked if you wanted to go to bed, you look tired."

Phil flushed but then looked to his bed. It did look very tempting. He turned back to Dan and shrugged, "I guess, we might as well… Tomorrow's probably gonna be longer than today was." Phil slid off the edge of Dan's bed and into his own, shuffling under the thin blanket.

"Good night Phil," Dan said while repressing a yawn. He leaned over to the bedside table where the lamp sat and flicked it off.

"Good night Dan."

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Wakie Wakie!! Time for breakfast and activities!!" Finn's voice exploded into the room as he burst through the door and the whole cabin groaned. Phil sat bolt up right as soon as the door had opened and now he had clear view of one of the kids at the front of the cabin throwing a pillow at Finn who dodged and the pillow flew out the open door.

"Oh come on, it's the first day of real camp!! The fun really starts today! Don't miss it, Get up now!" Finn let the door slam shut as he left and slowly but shirley the whole cabin came alive with much grumbling.

Phil was about to swing his legs out of his bed when Chris swung down right in front of him from the bunk above, face inches from his own. Phil fell back against the mattress in shock with a startled cry.

"Hey, are you itchy? I think those mosquitos really liked my arms," Chris let his arms dangle and Phil saw that they were swollen and red.

"Wow, uh, are you allergic or something, you should probably put something on that!" Phil could feel his eye twitching; what a way to start the day.

Chris laughed and climbed down from his bunk.

"I might be, I don't really know…" Chris ignored the suggestion of medicine in favour of going to take a shower.

Phil turned to look to Dan's bed and saw that he was still curled up under his blankets. Pj was sitting on the edge of Dan's bed, pulling on running shoes. Dan's hair was mussed on his forehead and his arms were splayed out on either side of himself. His nose scrunched adorably as he snored quietly. Phil caught himself staring and shook himself from the bubbly haze that had settled in his brain as something in his chest felt light. Phil would look at those feeling later. Much, much later.

"Dan?" Phil asked tentatively, Dan rolled over but didn't open his eyes.

"Hold on, I've got it," Pj said and turned around. He pinched Dan's nose and after a second, Dan sat up gasping and coughing for breath. Pj didn't explain why he knew to do that, he just got up and left.

Phil just then realized that he had befriended a bunch of maniacs, but as soon as he turned and looked at Dan blearily trying to pull his blankets away from his legs, and Chris who came out of the showering area with a towel rapped around his head in a huge heap that was completely unnecessary for the amount of hair he had, Phil knew he didn't care. He could get through camp with his new friends.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

They made it to the Mess Hall and settled down with bowls for cereal and fruit cups, conversation of the game the night before striking up.

"So who won? We didn't stick around to hear them announce the winner," Dan took a sip of his orange juice as he looked to Louise for an answer.

Louise laughed as Chris pumped his fist in the air, the other swollen appendage still sitting in his lap with a cold cloth covering it.

"Chris is the first person to win the game on their first time at the camp, and he still won't tell us how he did it."

Dan choked on his drink and this time Phil had to slap his back. He was shocked to, but he guessed he had completely lost track of Chris right at the begging of the game so it was possible.

"How did you- manage-- that?" Dan spluttered as he coughed the juice from his throat.

Chris gave a smug smile, "I'll never tell…" His other arm landed in his lap with a gross squishing sound.

Pj laughed, "I kind of don't want to know what you did," he gestured towards Chris's arms and shivered, "Are you going to have pickle arms forever or…"

Chris mock glared at Pj and held up both arms to his chest, covering his heart with his hands clasped together, "Jokes on you, I've always wanted to be a pickle…"

The group burst into laughter as Chris squinted his eyes and flexed his horribly bitten arms. Phil laughed along with the group and almost passed out when Cat snorted milk out her nose.

' I guess I can get through another couple weeks of this…' Phil thought as he glanced sideways to where Dan's face was pulled into a bright smile as he laughed along with their new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!! Yay! I started writing this for a friend, before I even watched Dan and Phil videos, but now I'm kinda hooked on them!! XD

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago and then dug it back up and finished.


End file.
